Visual Impairment May Increase Risk of Dementia

Article: Partially sighted may be at higher risk of dementia
Source: Anglia Ruskin University (U.K.)
Published: April 30, 2021

A study using data from the World Health Organization's Study on Global Ageing and Adult Health (SAGE) found that older people with visual impairment were significantly more likely to suffer mild cognitive impairment (MCI), a potential precursor to dementia, which in turn is a major cause of disability and dependency among older individuals. Based on population data of 32,715 people older than 50 years of age from China, India, Russia, South Africa, Ghana and Mexico, the researchers found that people with visual impairment at both distance and near vision were 1.7 times more likely to suffer from mild cognitive impairment than those without visual impairment. Similarly, people with near visual impairment were 1.3 times more likely to suffer from mild cognitive impairment than those without. However, those individuals who reported only distance visual impairment did not appear to exhibit increased risk. The overall prevalence of mild cognitive impairment was 15.3% in the study sample, and 44% of the study population reported no visual impairment at all, suggesting that the connection to cognitive impairment is not strictly due to age. One of the authors comments, “Research now needs to focus on whether intervention to improve quality of vision can reduce the risk of mild cognitive impairment, and ultimately dementia. More work needs to be done to examine any possible causation, and what the reasons might be behind it.”

My rating of this study: ⭐⭐⭐🌸

Smith L, Shin JI, Jacob L, et al. "The association between objective vision impairment and mild cognitive impairment among older adults in low- and middle-income countries." Aging Clinical and Experimental Research.  4 March 2021. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40520-021-01814-1